


Just To See You Smile

by Katybug1992



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluffy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25946743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katybug1992/pseuds/Katybug1992
Summary: Matthew would die a happy man if he could make Robby smile or giggle at least once a day for the rest of their lives. Because his giggle was Matthew’s favorite sound, but nothing compared to Robby’s smile.
Relationships: Robert Thomas/Matthew Tkachuk
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Just To See You Smile

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the Chorus of "Just to See You Smile" by Tim McGraw
> 
> Just to see you smile  
> I'd do anything that you wanted me to  
> When all is said and done  
> I'd never count the cost  
> It's worth all that's lost  
> Just to see you smile

Matthew would do anything to get Robby to smile. This was a fact that he had become comfortable in since he had met the younger boy. Sure, there were times that he embarrassed himself just to get the corners of Robby’s mouth to turn up, to get the sound of his giggle to fill the space. It just a fact, like the sky was blue. And everyone who knew Matthew knew it. And he bore it with pride - because he was always able to coax a smile or a laugh out when no one else could. And the knowledge that he could always make Robby happy was a source of comfort whenever it felt that the distance was too much.

1.

They got back from celebrating with families and Matthew managed to finagle a roommate-swap - not that MItch was going to be back in the room anyway as Connor and Dylan had surprised him by showing up and he was definitely going to be with them all night - and he threw a grin over his shoulder at Robby as he pulled the other boy to his room.

“What about -?”

“McDavid and Strome showed up. Do you really think Marns is going to come back tonight?” Matthew laughed, smiled broadening as Robby’s giggle followed and he quickly opened the door and led Robby inside.

He had meant for them to just hangout, maybe make-out a little, enjoy the little time they had left before going their separate ways until Matthew came to Aurora to train. But then Robby had flipped them around so Matthew was not the one pressed against the wall and sunk down to his knees - and Matthew groaned at the sight because Robby was a vision always, but like this - looking up at him with an expression that conveyed so much love and trust, like Matty was the best person he had ever met - it was almost too much.

And it’s not like that was the first time he had had Robby on his knees for him. Far from it. But it felt different that night. 

“What do you want, baby?” Matthew asked, running a hand through Robby’s hair as the younger boy nuzzled at his crotch.

“Want you to fuck me, Matty,” Robby mumbled, looking up at Matthew through those long eyelashes of his.

And Matty was so weak for this boy. Had been from day fucking one. And he pulled Robby up, kissing him heatedly as he walked them over to one of the beds.

And it wasn’t the setting he had in mind for their first time together - Robby’s first time period - but it was still perfect. Robby was perfect.  
And he giggled and gave Matthew a sleepy smile when he told him that. And Matthew had to kiss him again.

2.

Matthew hadn’t found it until after the draft, when he was back in his hotel room. He pulled the envelope out of the inside pocket and immediately recognized Robby’s handwriting. He sat down on the bed and started reading, taking in the words, before pulling his phone out an face-timing Robby.

“Hello, Mr. Sixth-Overall,” Robby greeted, answering the call.

“You’re so dumb,” Matthew grinned widely, “you really think I would dumb my favorite person in the world just so I could get it regularly.”

“That is not what I said,” Robby defended himself, “I was just saying that I would be okay if you wanted to either end things or have an open relationship. It’s not going be easy and you’ll have your choice of -”

“You’re my only choice,” Matthew cut him off, “you’re the only choice that ever mattered. I;ve been all in on you from the start and nothing’s going to change that.”

Robby bit his lip to keep his smile from growing to a ridiculous size and Matthew huffed out a laugh, “You’re so dumb, babe. Why would I ever want anyone but you?”

And Robby couldn’t stop his smile if he wanted to, blush spreading as well, and Matthew loved this boy so much. 

“Tell me about your night?” Matthew prompted, settling back against the headboard.

“My night?!” Robby laughed, “You’re the one who just got drafted. Tell me about yours! I wanna know everything!”

And so they switched back and forth, and Matthew carefully refolded Robby’s letter and tucked it back into his inside pocket.

And if he still tucked that letter into the inside pocket of every game day suit, then that was for him to know. Because it reminded him that, no matter how he played, he had someone who thought he played a good game. Because it reminded him that he had Robby. Even after a loss, he still had Robby in his corner. That Robby loved him. 

And, at the end of the day - at the end of his career - that will be the only thing that mattered. 

3.

Robby tried to watch as many of Matty’s games as he could - Brady’s too. It helped that he lived with Walt, who also made sure to watch as many of their games as possible. And Robby liked watching games with Walt. 

So he sat on the couch, next to Taryn, wearing a Flames hoodie - which covered a large bruise that pretty much spanned his entire left side courtesy of a dirty, hard hit from Jamie Benn the previous night. Borts had gotten Benn back later in the game for it and Robby had played through the pain, insisting he was fine. And he was. It just hurt. 

He thanked Chantal as she handed him a pill after seeing him wince one too many times and settled in to watch the game.

And he shouldn’t have been surprised to see Matty making an annoyance of himself. But Matthew seemed to have turned it up to ten, which made this game against the Stars seem like a game against the Oilers.

But then Walt groaned and Robby’s attention was moved from his phone - where he had been more watching than participating in the argument between DP, Petro, and Steener about various things all at once (although it definitely had something to do with how stupid young Pear was) - to the tv, where Matty was dropping the gloves with Benn.

“This is your fault,” Taryn laughed poking Robby’s leg with her foot.

“It’s not Robby’s fault that Matthew can’t make it through a game without punching something,” Walt replied, shaking his head even though Matthew was doing pretty well.

“Yeah, well, that something wouldn’t be Jamie Benn if Robby hadn’t gotten hit by him the other night.” Taryn replied.

“She has a point.” Robby winced, “He asked if I wanted him to punch Benn. I told him no, but I think Matty may have already made up his mind.”

“And that was before he saw the bruise.” Taryn laughed.

“He wouldn’t stop bugging me until I showed. I would have hung up but then my phone would have blown up with texts, probably worse than when Sammy is drunk and only Dunner is paying attention to him.”  
Robby only half paid attention to Taryn further chirping about easy it was for Matthew to get him to do something, the rest of his attention focused on Matty - who was managing to win the fight, smirking when he got Benn to the ice.

He then groaned because - of course - Borts had to text the GC that Robby’s boy had successfully defended his honor.

Robby replied that he could defend his own honor, which no one apparently believed - which resulted in him pushing himself into the corner of the sofa and pouting.

He waited for a couple hours after the game ended to call Matthew. And when he did, Matty answered his FaceTime halfway through the first ring.

“Well, if it isn’t the Best Fighter in the West,” Robby grinned when Matthew’s face came into focus.

“I think a couple of your teammates would take exception to that title,” Matthew chuckled.

“Well, they’re currently bullying me right now,” Robby laughed, settling himself on his bed as Matty did the same in Dallas.

“Why?”

“Because you were ‘defending my honor’ as Sammy put it in the GC and - of course - Bozie jumped right on that.”

“Well, you are the Team Baby,” Matty grinned obnoxiously, earning an eye roll but a little grin regardless.

“Seriously, though, that was kind of dumb. You could have gotten hurt.” 

“No one treats you like that.”

“It’s hockey, Matty.” Robby rolled his eyes, “And Borts took care of it in-game.”

“Still. I didn’t like watching that hit last night. I didn’t like how you didn’t get right back up. And I really don’t like that bruise he left.”

“I’m in good hands,” Robby replied, “Ray made sure nothing was broken and your mom has been keeping me extremely honest on my pain level.”

“Good.” 

“Your goal was hot by the way,” Robby changed the subject, knowing Matthew well enough to know that stroking his ego would distract him from worrying about Robby. It was a trick he used often.

“Yeah?” Matty raised an eyebrow, “How hot?”

And Robby giggled, smile broad and bright and no one could ever compare to him in Matthew’s eyes.

4.

Robby was the only rookie on the team, which meant that he got his own room like the older guys. And on their first game in Calgary he walked into that room to find it filled with Sunflowers, vases filling every available surface.

“Jesus Christ…” Petro rolled his eyes when he saw it, having stopped by to grab Robby to go to Team Lunch since his room was right next door.

And Robby laughed. Because Petro had known Matty since he was little and Walt had kept him updated on the boys - so Petro knew a lot about Robby before they had even met.

But - of course - Pear had been with him so the entire team knew in a second and Robby spent the short walk to the restaurant getting chirped by various teammates.

“....i hate you.” he texted Matty, immediately getting a series of laughing emojis and sunflower emojis in response.

When he got back to his room, he pulled his out and laughed as Matty immediately answered, his face filling the screen.

“Did you have to fill the whole room?” Robby laughed, smile wide as he flipped the camera around to show Matty what the room looked like.

“They’re your favorites and I wanted to do something special for you!” Matty defended himself with a laugh.

“I think you went a little overboard, Matty!” Robby’s grin was still in place when he flipped the camera back around, “I’m only here for a couple days. There’s no way I can take all of them with me.”

“You’ll figure something out.” Matty’s expression was nothing but fond and Robby’s smile softened in response - less amused and more love-sick teenager.

“So, what time are you picking me up tonight?” Robby switched the subject, “Petro needs to know. And I have to be back by nine.”

“Do you have to be back alone?” Matty raised an eyebrow.

And Robby bit back a smile and shook his head.

Later that night, as Robby lay in bed, wrapped up in Matty’s arms, the older boy huffed out a laugh against his shoulder.

“What?” Robby asked, smile evident in his voice.

“I really did go overboard,” Matty laughed.

And Robby joined him before leaning back against his chest and closing his eyes, “Thank you for tonight. It was nice.”

“I missed you,” Matty whispered, pressing a kiss to the back of Robby’s neck.

“You do realize you’ll need to set your alarm extra early if you don’t want to get caught leaving, right?”

And Matty laughed again.

He did get caught leaving. By Pear AND Steener.

Before leaving for the game, Robby arranged to have the flowers picked up and delivered to a children’s hospital in the area, making sure there were enough flowers that each kid could get one, then ordering enough to cover the rest of the kids.

5.

Matthew had been watching the game with the rest of the family, he had wanted to go to Boston with his dad but understood why he shouldn’t. Because he knew, the minute the time hit zero and the buzzer sounded, that he would not have been able to resist the urge to kiss Robby.

And, along with the rest of his family, celebrated loudly - laughing as they heard the neighborhood celebrating as well. Because as much as he and Brady would have loved to be there, they grew up cheering for this team and Robby was their favorite human. And his mom was definitely crying.

“Try to get a little sleep,” she instructed after the coverage stopped, “we’re meeting the team at Enterprise Center.”

“But I was gonna -”

“Honey,” Chantal interrupted him, “Robby loves you, but he is not going to be answering any phone calls right now. Go on. We’re leaving at 3 am.”

Matthew was shoved out of the way by Taryn when they spotted Robby but he couldn’t stay too mad because she and Brady worked together to make a shield from the cameras so Matthew could kiss Robby quickly. 

And Robby gave him a drunk little smile that had all of them laughing and Chantal pulled him in for a tight hug and told him how proud she was of him.

It took a little bit of time to extract Robby from his teammates - and their dad away from where the alumni had gathered together - but they were finally piled into the car and Robby was dozing off on Matty’s shoulder.

However, he was wide awake again by the time they got home and Matty was helping him downstairs - Matthew’s ban officially lifted since the season was over.

“Stay,” Robby whispered against Matthew’s lips.

“Obviously,” Matthew replied, kissing Robby deeply.

Later, when they were laying there trying to catch their breaths, Matty leaned over and grabbed the box he had hidden in the nightstand before they went to the Arena.

“So, my dad wanted me to wait a couple years, until you’re older and have more experience in the League. But I can’t not do this right now,” Matty whispered, making Robby roll over to face him, “I love you. I’ve loved since I was eighteen and you are my favorite human being. I don’t remember ever feeling as happy as I feel when I’m with you. Your smile is the best part of my day. I live to make you laugh. And I would love to be the person who you can always turn to for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

Matty opened the box to reveal a simple silver band and Robby nodded and started tearing up and nodding rapidly - and Matthew was a little considered that he may get sick even if he had sobered up mostly by the time they had gotten home.

“Yes,” Robby finally choked out, smile blinding.

And that might have been Matty’s favorite smile he ever caused. He slipped the ring onto Robby’s finger and attempted a kiss - not really succeeding because they were both smiling like idiots.

Matthew would die a happy man if he could make Robby smile or giggle at least once a day for the rest of their lives. Because his giggle was Matthew’s favorite sound, but nothing compared to Robby’s smile.


End file.
